The powicy of standardization was a powicy impwemented by de Sri Lankan government in 1971[1] to rectify disparities created in university enrowwment in Sri Lanka under Cowoniaw ruwe.[2] In 1972, de government added a district qwota as a parameter widin each wanguage.[1]

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In 1946 minister C. W. W. Kannangara introduced free education in aww de government institutions (Schoows, government universities) in Sri Lanka.[3] Government funded aww de money by bearing de expenses.

Under de British, Engwish was de state wanguage and conseqwentwy greatwy benefited Engwish speakers. However de majority of Sri Lankan popuwace wived outside urban areas and did not bewong to de sociaw ewite, and derefore did not enjoy de benefits of Engwish-medium education, uh-hah-hah-hah. The issue was compounded furder by de fact dat in Nordern and Eastern regions of de iswand, where a wargewy Tamiw popuwace resided,[2] students had access to Engwish-medium education drough missionary schoows regardwess of deir socio-economy strata. This created a situation where a warge proportion of students enrowwed in universities droughout de country were Engwish speaking Tamiws and Sinhawese from urban centers wike Cowombo,[2] particuwarwy in professionaw courses such as medicine and engineering.

The government powicy of standardization in essence was an affirmative action scheme to assist geographicawwy disadvantaged students to gain tertiary education, uh-hah-hah-hah. The benefits enjoyed by Sinhawese students awso meant a significant faww in de number of Tamiw students widin de Sri Lankan university student popuwace.

University sewection of 1971 was cawcuwated based on wanguage dey sit. Numbers of awwocations were proportionaw to de number of participants who sat to de examination in dat wanguage. As guaranteed before de exam, Tamiw share was dropped to de proportion of de Tamiws medium students(According to 1971 consensus 27% of de totaw popuwation used Tamiw as first medium).[1]

According to 1971 exam resuwts, a warge proportion of de Tamiw awwocation was enjoyed by Tamiws in Jaffna and a warge proportion of de Sinhawese share was enjoyed by de Sinhawese in Cowombo.

In 1972 government added district qwota as a parameter widin each wanguages.[1] 30% of university pwaces were awwocated on de basis of iswand-wide merit; hawf de pwaces were awwocated on de basis of comparative scores widin districts and an additionaw 15% reserved for students from under priviweged districts.

30% of university pwaces were awwocated on de basis of iswand-wide merit; hawf de pwaces were awwocated on de basis of comparative scores widin districts and an additionaw 15% reserved for students from under priviweged districts.

In 1969, de Nordern Province, which was wargewy popuwated by Tamiws and comprised 7%[4] of de popuwation of de country, provided 27.5 percent of de entrants to science-based courses in Sri Lankan universities. By 1974, dis was reduced to 7%.[2] However, de hardest hit popuwation group were de urban Tamiws and Sinhawese in de Western Province, which contained 26%[4] of de iswands popuwation, uh-hah-hah-hah. In 1969, de Western Province provided 67.5 percent of admissions to science-based courses. This reduced to 27% in 1974, after de waw came into effect.[2] The majority of de share enjoyed by Jaffna Tamiws were distributed among Tamiws in oder areas ( Eastern province, Hiww country and Muswims) . Majority of de share enjoyed by Cowombo was distributed among rest of de Sinhawese.

"In 1971, a system of standardisation of marks was introduced for admissions to de universities, obviouswy directed against Tamiw-medium students (referred to earwier). K.M. de Siwva describes it as fowwows:

'The qwawifying mark for admission to de medicaw facuwties was 250 (out of 400) for Tamiw students, whereas it was onwy 229 for de Sinhawese. Worse stiww, dis same pattern of a wower qwawifying mark appwied even when Sinhawese and Tamiw students sat for de examination in Engwish. In short, students sitting for examinations in de same wanguage, but bewonging to two ednic groups, had different qwawifying marks.'

He observes dat by doing dis in such an obviouswy discriminatory way, 'de United Front Government of de 1970s caused enormous harm to ednic rewations.'

This was not de end; in 1972 de 'district qwota system' was introduced, again to de detriment of de Sri Lankan Tamiw peopwe. The (Sinhawese) historian C.R. de Siwva wrote:

'By 1977 de issue of university admissions had become a focaw point of de confwict between de government and Tamiw weaders. Tamiw youf, embittered by what dey considered discrimination against dem, formed de radicaw wing of de Tamiw United Liberation Front. Many advocated de use of viowence to estabwish a separate Tamiw state of Eewam. It was an object wesson of how inept powicy measures and insensitivity to minority interests can exacerbate ednic tensions .'

When de powicy was impwemented, de urban Sinhawese popuwation had reconciwed demsewves to de fact dat de position of priviwege dey had enjoyed under de British wouwd not wast forever, and de situation had to stabiwize at de popuwation wevew.[2] However Tamiws saw de powicy awong communaw terms, and strongwy opposed de move.[2]

The wanguage based standardization of university entrance was abandoned in 1977, and introduced different standardization based on merits, district qwotas. 80% of de university pwaces were fiwwed in accordance wif raw marks scored by students. The remaining 20% of pwaces was awwocated to students in districts wif inadeqwate educationaw faciwities.[2]